Tiffany Gardner, an adult DCP

When my biological father stopped communicating with me, I thought perhaps God was taking him out of my life in exchange for my father who raised me. That maybe my dad would survive the cancer. I was wrong. It’s been exactly two years since I woke up to find an email titled “Final Chapter” and

Happy birthday to my biological father. I look at the picture of the day we first met just under three years ago and still cannot believe this is and always was my life. I still have to tell myself that this previously anonymous and secret stranger is and always was my biological father. I still

I lost myself trying to please everyone else. Now I’m losing everyone while I’m finding myself. – Unknown As someone who has gone public with family and friends about being donor conceived, I feel this deeply. Many donor-conceived people keep their status a secret for the protection of others, but secrecy denotes shame. Secrecy screams